LeBron's second trip back to Cleveland ends with loss

There was less buzz around the city, less chatter of LeBron James returning to face his former team for a second time. Things were different, all right.

Totally different.

In complete contrast to the earlier meeting, the Miami Heat were outplayed in every phase of the game in a 102-90 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers Tuesday at Quicken Loans Arena. It snapped Miami's five-game winning streak. J.J. Hickson led five Cavs players in double-figures with 21 points.

"That's the reality, that this was coming to us," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "The majority of the time in this league you get what you deserve and and we got exactly what we deserved. They played harder than us, they came out with much desperation and sense of urgency and this pattern really started two games ago. We're a little confused what our identity is."

The disappointing effort came on a night when the Heat had a chance to surpass the Boston Celtics for second place in the Eastern Conference standings. Now, the Heat find themselves in the unexpected position of having to regroup from a loss to the lowly Cavs, the NBA's worst team. Miami made just 33 of 78 shots (42 percent) while allowing the Cavs to shoot 55 percent.

Cleveland gave its fans at least some sort of redemption after they claimed they were embarrassed on national television when James announced he was signing with the Heat. For one night, they were vindicated.

After leading by 11 at halftime, the Cavs went on an 18-0 run in the third quarter. They held their largest lead, 71-48, with 5:08 remaining before the Heat finally began playing like one of the league's elite teams.

Miami responded with a 19-1 run. Wade was key during the stretch, scoring 10 of his 24 points in the third quarter. The highlight of the comeback was James sinking a 50-foot shot as the buzzer expired, cutting the Cavs lead to 75-70. James finished with a game-high 27 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds.

The Heat, who relied heavily on James, Wade and Chris Bosh the past two games, then received a spark from point guard Mike Bibby. In his fourth start since replacing the injured Mario Chalmers, Bibby scored a season-high 23 points. He started the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer from the corner, and then hit another to tie it at 83 with seven minutes remaining.

From there, it was all Cavs.

They refused to wilt, playing behind the energy from the sellout crowd. This was hardly the team that lost a league-record 26 straight games earlier this season. They looked more like the bunch that knocked off the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers Feb. 16.

Cleveland answered the Heat rally with a 12-0 run to clinch it. The spurt was capped with a 3-pointer from Anthony Parker that made it 95-83 with 2:44 remaining.

"We know our identity is defense," James said. "In order for us to win games, even when we don't shoot well, we've got to still defend. We didn't do that (Tuesday.)"

The Cavs showed much more fight than when the teams met here Dec. 2. On that night, James was on the bench by the fourth quarter, at times joking with some of his former teammates. He scored 38 points, including 24 in the third quarter, in a 118-90 blowout.

"We felt like the first time they played us here at the Q, they took something away from us," Hickson said. "We went on a 26-game skid (after that game). It felt good to come in here and get a win and compete above anything."

This time, it was indeed different.

A dunk by Hickson with 1:04 left prompted the playing of LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out" over the loudspeakers. Confetti was released after the victory, and Parker during an on-court interview told the crowd, "You guys deserve this."

"It wasn't any more special than any other one," Cavs coach Byron Scott said. "I'm sure it's probably special to a lot of other people. It's a good win against a very good basketball team Â… Our fans have been unbelievable all season long and I thought they were fantastic again."

The Heat have little time to regroup. They play the Washington Wizards Wednesday in the second of a four-game road trip against teams out of the playoff race.

"It's going to be same against Washington (Wednesday) if we don't come out with a sense of urgency," James said. "The same thing is going to happen."